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Insights into a warming worldOur southern backyard

Remembering Professor Sir Paul Callaghan

Autumn 2012

m AG A Z I n E FO R F R I E n D S A n D A Lu m n I O F V I C tO R I A u n I V E R S I t Y O F W E L L I n GtO n

ictorious

In February 1938, King George VI gave a speech lending his weight to a campaign to get adults across Britain jumping, running, walking and swimming.

The speech was broadcast live on the BBC and reported widely in the press, says Victoria Professor of History Charlotte Macdonald, who has written a book about national fitness movements in the British world.

“His speech is quite an extraordinary moment and shows the priority given by government and the King to adult fitness in the 1930s,” says Charlotte.

“It builds on initiatives such as the Women’s League of Health and Beauty with its slogan ‘Movement is Life’, which was set up at the beginning of the decade.”

Her book—Strong, Beautiful and Modern: National Fitness in Britain, New Zealand, Australia and Canada, 1935–1960—tells the little-told story of this widespread fitness movement.

“It hasn’t been prominently told, principally because of the difficult legacy of World War II and how the extremes of fascism and Nazism influenced whether government should be

involved in the healthy bodies of adults,” says Charlotte.

“The movement fades away post-war—at least in its government-backed form—but one of the surprising aspects is that these campaigns were supported across the political spectrum.”

She says that within five months of legislation by a Conservative government in Britain to increase opportunities for recreation and encourage participation, a similar law was passed in 1937 in New Zealand by Michael Joseph Savage’s Labour government.

“Strong and healthy bodies were not the monopoly of ‘left’ or ‘right’ regimes. For the Labour government here, ‘physical welfare’ was very much tied to workers’ entitlements to more leisure time and reducing the length of the working week. It was very much part of being modern in the 1930s.

“It’s also a movement that is backed by intellectuals. There’s a telling photo of Phillip Smithells, who headed the newly formed Physical Education Branch within the Department of Education, with people like

economist William Sutch and writer James K. Baxter.”

Charlotte notes that as well as having government support, the movement was very fashionable.

“For instance, George Formby, the comedy actor of the day, made a feature film called Keep Fit that was shown everywhere—in London, Melbourne and in Wellington; and Regent Street store Jaeger promoted underwear for exercising.”

Her book closes by raising questions about the role governments should play in encouraging people to live healthy lives, whether the focus of sport funding should be on the “gold medals or the grassroots”, and examining issues of collective interest and individual responsibility.

Strong, Beautiful and Modern: National Fitness in Britain, New Zealand, Australia and Canada, 1935-1960 can be purchased through the publisher, Bridget Williams Books.

www.bwb.co.nz

[email protected] +64-4-463 6761

Strong, beautiful and modern

From the Vice-ChancellorResearch has the power to create new knowledge that has major social, economic or scholarly impact—and it is an activity we foster in both staff and students at Victoria. We are proud to showcase just some of the exciting research that is being carried out at the University in this issue of Victorious.

Excellence in research is one of Victoria’s strategic goals. Many of our resources are focused on developing and rewarding research excellence, so that our lecturers are not only passing on their knowledge to students, but also furthering their own fields of expertise. We also provide a number of student scholarships to boost research in various areas.

A focus over the last two years has been to strengthen the University’s research culture through our Faculty of Graduate Research, which has streamlined the appointment and funding of PhD students. I’m pleased to report that our efforts have paid off. The number of postgraduate degree completions at Victoria increased significantly, with 151 PhD completions in 2011 compared with 130 in 2010. The number of research Master’s degree completions also increased, with 351 completions in 2011 compared with 176 completions in 2010. This includes both national and international students.

We also provide our undergraduate students with opportunities to obtain invaluable research experience through our Summer Scholars Scheme, in which they are paid to complete a research project of around 10 weeks’ duration under the supervision of an academic staff member or a research team. These scholarships have proven popular, and over the 2011/2012 summer trimester the University offered 174 scholarships. Of these, 150 were part funded by the Scholarships Office and the Research Trust, and faculties, staff research grants or Crown research institutes funded the remaining 24. You can read about the research of one of these summer scholars, Alex Clark, on page 5 of this issue.

On our Gifting page you will also read about how alumni generously donated to the Victoria University of Wellington Foundation last year. I would like to extend my thanks to all alumni who donated to our appeal—your contribution makes an enormous difference to our students who would struggle to complete their studies without financial support.

In closing, I would like to acknowledge Professor Sir Paul Callaghan, one of Victoria’s finest researchers, who sadly passed away in March following a long battle with colon cancer. With his passing, the University and New Zealand have lost an outstanding scholar and one of the country’s most eminent scientists. He was a great leader, and an inspiration to many, with the ability to think outside his own scientific disciplines and make a much wider public impact. You can read more about some of his career highlights on page 9.

Professor Pat Walsh, Vice-Chancellor

2 Research and innovationA look at the diverse range of research by our staff and students

9 In MemoriamRemembering Professor Sir Paul Callaghan

10 Learning @ VictoriaShowcasing learning and teaching at Victoria

13 Alumni newsNews from graduates and events of interest to alumni and the university community

18 GiftingStories about those who have donated funding, resources and time to support the University

19 Off the pressReviews of recent publications by Victoria University Press

20 Town and gownWhere Victoria meets the community for activities, performances and the sharing of expertiseCo

nten

tsVictorious is published by Victoria University of Wellington, Te Whare Wānanga o te Ūpoko o te Ika a Māui, PO Box 600, Wellington, New Zealand.

www.victoria.ac.nz

To notify a change of address, or to sign up to the email newsletter Life after Vic, email [email protected] or call +64-4-463 9665.

Editor: Tania Guenter

Editorial Team: Guy Randall, Haley Small, Katherine Edmond, Kate Arrowsmith, Stephen Garrett and Briony Pentecost.

To contact Victorious or to submit a story idea, email [email protected]

Photographs (unless otherwise credited): Image Services, Victoria University of Wellington. Cover image: Robert Cross.

Pictured: Dr Rob McKay.

ISSN 1172-0387 ©Victoria University 2012

Disclaimer: The views expressed in Victorious are not necessarily those of Victoria University of Wellington.

A group of women performing exercises based on free expression, flowing movement and outdoor performance. Photo: Reg Speller, Hulton Archive, Getty Images

Professor Lionel Carter is clear about the importance of Antarctica and New Zealand’s sub-Antarctic Islands, which have World Heritage status.

“It’s our own backyard and we have a responsibility to look after it, and assess changes and their impact on New Zealand,” he says.

Raising awareness of this region between Stewart Island and the South Pole was the mission of the recent Our Far South voyage, led by Dr Gareth Morgan, economist, philanthropist and Victoria University Distinguished Alumnus.

Victoria’s Antarctic Research Centre was a partner on the voyage, with Lionel and Dr Dan Zwartz contributing to the science programme and Dr Rhian Salmon involved in the outreach campaign.

Also on board were experts from NIWA, GNS Science and the University of Otago, plus a group of influential New Zealanders with a passion for ‘our far south’.

“The voyage was to raise awareness of conservation, climate change and other issues,” says Lionel.

On the voyage, crew members highlighted their experiences through social media. Now back in New Zealand, participants are continuing to raise awareness through lectures, school visits and books about the voyage.

“Seeing these areas was eye-opening. Their breathtaking beauty was marred by the knowledge that change was underway with key species declining and ice melting amongst other signs.”

One focus was the warming of the Southern Ocean. During the voyage Dan deployed 20 automated ARGO floats to monitor ocean temperatures, salinity, oxygen and currents for up to four years.

“Dan noted there are around 3,600 ARGO floats in the world’s oceans but the Southern Ocean is less studied. Thus the Morgan expedition was a rare opportunity for float deployment.”

Lionel says the Southern Ocean is a major driver of the New Zealand and global climate.

“The ocean is now warming and the winds are moving south, affecting the ocean currents that sweep past New Zealand. Considering the ocean’s influence, it is vital for us to unravel future effects from this rapidly changing region.”

[email protected]+64-4-463 6475

Not many students can claim that they have helped unravel mysteries in space or had their work published in top scientific journals before finishing their undergraduate degree, but Luke Pratley has done both.

The 20-year-old physics student is a co-author on two scientific papers and lead author on a third for radio astronomy research he’s been doing over the last three years under the guidance of Victoria astronomer Dr Melanie Johnston-Hollitt.

Luke’s ground-breaking work is in understanding more about radio galaxies, which send out electromagnetic radiation or radio waves. Some of them have a black hole at their centre and streaming from it are jets or plumes made up of electrons travelling close to the speed of light. They are, says Luke, one of the largest structures in the universe.

Luke went to Australia to create computer images of the jets using radio wave data from the Australia Telescope Compact Array, the most sensitive radio telescope in the Southern Hemisphere.

The images show the jets are not in a straight line, but are bent in different directions, or sometimes in a spiral, says Luke.

“The unusual shapes result from a range of different forces acting on the galaxy, including winds that are similar to a massive front.”

Luke’s other work also fed into an international initiative that has successfully produced the highest precision map ever of the Milky Way galaxy’s magnetic field.

Persistence was partly why opportunities came his way, says Luke, who is now a fourth-year Honours student.

“I decided in my first year I wanted to do more than just classroom work and said that to staff, including Melanie. I reminded her I was keen to volunteer every time I saw her.

“The research gave me extra motivation to study because I wanted the background knowledge to help me problem-solve.”

[email protected]

Smart start for physics researcher

Luke Pratley with one of the six antennae of the Australia Telescope Compact Array—the most sensitive radio telescope in the Southern Hemisphere. Photo: Dr Melanie Johnston-Hollitt

Dr Rhian Salmon, a Teaching Fellow in the School of Geography, Environment and Earth Sciences, observes an albatross on Campbell Island. Photo: Mike Wilkinson

Our southern backyard

2 Victoria University of Wellington

Research and Innovation-> Victoria’s academic staff are leaders in their fields of research expertise. If you have a project that requires the skills and knowledge of our staff, contact Professor Charles Daugherty. Email: [email protected] Tel: +64-4-463 5572.

A Victoria researcher is shining a light on the causes and consequences of the under-researched but worrying incidence of self-harm among young people.

In three studies carried out as part of her PhD research, Dr Robyn Langlands examined the factors that led to episodes of self-injury, such as cutting, burning and severe scratching, and how those she interviewed or surveyed felt afterwards.

Robyn found that self-injury usually follows periods of intense negative thoughts and emotions including self-hatred, anger, depression and heightened anxiety.

The results also showed that many people experienced relief after self-harming and a drop in the number of negative thoughts they were having.

“A lot of research to date has focused on emotions, but I also looked at what people were thinking and found they were often overwhelmed by stressors and their emotions. In that situation, they found it difficult to problem-solve and think of alternative solutions other than self-injury.”

Robyn’s research also showed that people with a history of self-harming generally experience more negative thoughts and emotions than those without such a background.

That, she says, lends weight to the premise that self-harm is a coping mechanism, although she concedes that seems paradoxical.

“Self-harm is a highly stigmatised behaviour that

many people have trouble understanding. How can you help yourself by hurting yourself?

“It’s also often viewed as a form of attention seeking. In fact, a lot of people go to great efforts to hide what they are doing and even when they are using it to communicate to others that they need help, I view that as support seeking behaviour rather than attention seeking.”

Robyn says many aspects of self-injury are under-researched, including why it helps people cope.

“It could be a distraction, with the focus switching to physical sensations, or it could be that people actually do feel better because physical injury releases endogenous opioids that bring feelings of relief.”

She says there is frequently an element of self-punishment in the behaviour as well.

Robyn says although there can be feelings of shame associated with self-harm, many of those she interviewed during her PhD research found it helpful to talk about their experiences to someone who wasn’t judging them.

Robyn knew nothing about self-injury until she became part of a team developing guidelines on non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) while working as a researcher at the University of Melbourne in Victoria, Australia.

That sparked her interest in the field and led to her PhD research, which she completed over four-and-

a-half years while beginning clinical psychology study.

Robyn is now part of a Victoria University team, led by Associate Professor of Psychology Dr Marc Wilson, which has funding of $1.12 million from the Health Research Council of New Zealand for a longitudinal study into self-harm among adolescents.

“We know that 12, 13 and 14 are the most common ages of onset but we know very little about why people start self-injuring and what makes some experiment a few times with these behaviours and others become dependent on self-harming,” she says.

The study will follow a cohort of Year 9 Wellington students through their secondary schooling years.

Some of the funding will be used to develop resources for students and parents and run annual workshops for school guidance counsellors.

“It’s often difficult to know how to respond to self-harming behaviour. It’s better to listen and be open, rather than reacting with shock or horror. It’s also important not to be over-controlling.

“Self-injury can be an attempt by a young person to regain control and it may exacerbate their feelings of powerlessness if they are monitored 24/7 or constantly checked for wounds.”


Bringing self-harm out of the closet

3

Research and Innovation

Digital Projects Officer Max Sullivan considers how to digitise Erika Kruger’s 2004 Master’s thesis ‘The Black Box, The Concealed Room Thesis’.

More than 5,500 Master’s and PhD theses dating as far back as 1935 have been digitised by the University Library over the past two years.

“It’s been a mammoth effort, with many staff from across the Library helping in the process,” says Michael Parry, Digital Initiatives Coordinator for the Library.

“Having Victoria’s theses online makes all the great research that has been done over the years more accessible to a wider range of people.”

Michael says that while most theses arrive at the Library as A4-size bound copies, some have proved more of a challenge to digitise.

“One example was a design student’s ‘Black Box’ thesis, which is a series of six small books, some with foldout pages, some with split pages, housed in a black box. Our digitisers needed to find a way to scan the books, and to decide how we handled the box itself. We would have loved to have been able to create a file where the reader could turn the individual parts of the split pages but that wasn’t feasible. However, we managed to reproduce most of it effectively and are pleased with the results.”

Currently, most of the theses are held in a restricted archive that can only be accessed at the Library, and the next step is to gain permission from the authors to move most of them to the public research archive, http://researcharchive.vuw.ac.nz

The archive can also act as a digital home for other research, and this year the Library will be looking to increase the amount it holds by adding journal articles and research papers.

If you graduated with a Master’s or PhD from Victoria University you are invited to grant permission to shift your thesis to the public research archive. To do so, please complete the form found here http://library.victoria.ac.nz/library/sites/default/files/thesis_alumni.pdf and email to Michael Parry at [email protected].

Maibritt Pedersen Zari sometimes uses images of a native forest ecosystem alongside images of Wellington city to illustrate points in her lectures.

Many designers try to limit negative environmental impacts, but a Victoria sustainable architecture lecturer wants to go one step further.

Maibritt Pedersen Zari’s goal is to have urban areas that contribute more than they consume, while also remediating past environmental damage.

Her approach uses the local ecosystem as a model.

“Ecosystems are a highly effective example of how life can organise itself in a given site and climate. We can apply the principles at work to create more sustainable built environments in the same locality.

“For example, rather than setting an arbitrary target of reducing water use by 10 percent, the target would reflect whatever the annual rainfall is on the site.”

Soil quality standards would be set in a similar way.

“We currently have guidelines for the amount of zinc and lead in our soils but the levels were often much lower in the original ecosystem. Surely the latter should be our targets.”

Maibritt says the approach—an aspect of regenerative design—takes more time, and requires architects and ecologists to work closely together, but makes sense given looming environmental challenges.

“Around 40 percent of the world’s energy and material resources are used to build and operate buildings. Reduce and reuse is not enough—we have to make a fundamental shift in our thinking.”

Her vision is urban areas that mimic the natural environment by, for example, providing a habitat for flora and fauna, contributing to soil fertility through composting and recycling, collecting water and producing renewable energy from sunlight.

Maibritt was recently invited to contribute a paper to a special edition of the highly-ranked international journal Building Research & Information.

Although it might be easier to use her ideas in new designs, she says we should also apply them to existing urban areas.

“Most of the buildings that are going to be around for the next 80 years are already here, and that’s the timeframe in which resource use will peak and climate change will impact.”


Library digitises Victoria theses

Ecosystem inspired design


Research and InnovationResearch and Innovation

Rethinking autism policyHer personal experience as the mother of an autistic son led PhD candidate Hilary Stace to focus her research in public policy on how to improve services and support for people with autism and their families.

“Although there’s been a huge explosion of autism awareness over the last 20 years, New Zealand still has a way to come,” says Hilary.

“An event which prompted the government to pay attention happened in 1997 when a New Zealand mother, unable to find appropriate support at a time of crisis, killed her autistic daughter. A decade of policy work followed, resulting in some comprehensive ‘best practice’ guidelines being published in 2008, however these guidelines haven’t resulted in sufficient funding to implement them properly.”

Hilary says having a child with autism can affect families 24/7. “Even if you are lucky enough to get some help at school, there are still 18 more hours in the day.”

She describes the current policy approach as “chopping people into little bits”, with no central point of contact and each agency having different criteria for support. Some people miss out altogether.

“My research found that currently, to get good outcomes, an autistic person needs love from a good family, as well as luck that appropriate services are available when they’re needed. In a policy sense, I wanted to get beyond that.

“A disconnect I discovered is that autistic people and their families haven’t really been asked about their experiences as part of the policy process. Seeking their involvement in the process is one possible solution.

“I also suggest that each family has a ‘navigator person’ who can advocate on their behalf.”

Hilary’s research was funded by the Health Research Council and the Building Research Capability in the Social Sciences Network. She is now seeking research funding to partner with the local autism community to apply her findings.


Around half of New Zealand’s heritage books may already be online, but not all of them can be read by New Zealanders.

Media Studies student Alex Clark spent last summer roaming the internet to test the availability of works out of copyright as part of a research project devised by Dr Brenda Chawner from the School of Information Management.

She became interested in the topic after discovering that organisations digitising books in the US sometimes have different rules for accessing the material that depend on whether you live in or out of the US.

“While many are in the public domain and can be viewed or downloaded for free, others have licensing restrictions or are completely blocked to viewers outside the US,” says Brenda.

Alex searched for a sample of 100 pre-1890 titles in six repositories in the US and New Zealand as well as using online search engines. He found most early works have been digitised overseas by organisations such as the Internet Archive, a non-profit organisation that digitises and archives cultural works, and Google Books, which aims to digitise all the world’s books by the end of this decade.

Brenda says the research highlighted a lack of agreement on appropriate restrictions for accessing digital material.

“And there is the issue for New Zealand, of much of our digitised material being housed and controlled somewhere else, and the risk that it could be lost over time.”

The research also explores models for adapting the traditional New Zealand library to an online environment.

“Digital libraries make material accessible to many more people and allow copying and sharing, but they also provide powerful tools of restriction,” says Alex. “We need to balance the rights of content creators and consumers.”

He hopes finding digitised material could become easier as a result of his research. “It’s difficult and time-consuming searching in different places—it would be great if an organisation like the National Library was able to compile and maintain a centralised database of digitised publications.”

[email protected] [email protected] +64-4-463 5780

Digitising our past

Dr Hilary Stace at the December graduation parade with colleagues from the Health Services Research Centre. From left: Associate Professor Jackie Cumming (Director and PhD supervisor), Dr Hilary Stace, Dr Lynne Russell, Dr Ausaga Faasalele Tanuvasa and Dr Aliitasi Tavila. Photo: Melody (Cheryl) Naera-Barnett

The poster Alex Clark made to showcase the research he did as a summer scholar.

5


There’s nothing emotive in the way Dr Rob McKay delivers his analysis of the threat posed by climate change.“By putting more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, we’re turning up the heat on Earth. Once it goes above a manageable level, we don’t really know what the exact consequences will be, but there will be consequences.

“Human civilisations have survived changes to the climate in the past, but they haven’t been on the scale or rate that is likely in coming decades.

“I’m not an environmental activist and I don’t have entrenched views, but I am aware the climate system can switch very quickly.”

Rob, who is based at Victoria’s Antarctic Research Centre, is well placed to comment. At just 34 years old, he’s regarded as one of the world’s top glacial sedimentologists and his research into past environmental change in Antarctica won him the 2011 Prime Minister’s MacDiarmid Emerging Scientist Prize.

He’s spent six years gathering marine sedimentary records and studying glacial deposits to reconstruct episodes of melting and cooling in Antarctica over the last 13 million years.

“Sea ice is a very important controller. When it melts, the whole ecosystem of the Southern Ocean changes and this region is a key controller of the global carbon cycle.”

Rob’s particular focus is the Pliocene period, three to five million years ago, which was the last time Earth experienced atmospheric carbon dioxide levels as high as today’s elevated levels.

Understanding what happened to global sea level and climate back then, he says, holds clues about what the current phase of global warming will deliver.

Rob’s work is gaining international attention, but the effect changes in Antarctica will have on New Zealand is at the heart of his research.

He says better knowledge about how Antarctic ice sheets will respond to global warming has

particular relevance for New Zealand, given its location at a major gateway where water from Antarctica enters the world’s oceans.

Rob has made four trips to Antarctica, the most recent in 2009 when he was the sole New Zealander on a nine-week Integrated Ocean Drilling Programme (IODP) expedition to remote Wilkes Land, in Eastern Antarctica. IODP is the world’s premier geomarine research programme.

Despite being one of the more junior scientists on board, Rob was chosen to lead the expedition’s sedimentology team.

The expedition was a tough assignment.

“Fortunately I don’t get seasick as there were swells of over 10 metres at times on the way down. Once there, we had regular storms and had to navigate icebergs and sea ice. The pressure was on as there is only a short window in the area before the sea freezes over again.”

But the team managed to get most of the climate change records it was after, and Rob expects to spend much of the next two to three years analysing some of that data.

At the same time, he is carrying out complementary research in two New Zealand locations with colleague Professor Tim Naish and PhD student Molly Patterson.

The Whanganui region, says Rob, is in a “sweet spot”, providing one of the world’s best records of sea level change in Antarctica and information about how sensitive ice sheets have been in the past to warmer temperatures.

“The record is in the grain size of sediment on the shoreline and the sea floor close to the coast. It shows sea level changes related to ice ages and warm periods three million years ago, and we know all of those relate to Antarctica as there were only very small ice sheets in the Northern Hemisphere during that period.”

He is also developing an ocean-climate history by analysing the chemistry of fossilised plankton shells collected from offshore eastern New Zealand.

“When sea ice forms, it creates cold salty water that sinks to the bottom of the ocean in Antarctica and eventually flows from the Ross Sea past New Zealand. We can see changes in the amount of this water in the chemistry of the shells.

“Having three separate records helps us build a more accurate picture. In Antarctica itself, we see how the ice sheets have gone back and forward, but we understood much more by matching that to the magnitude of sea level change, which is what we can gauge from our New Zealand studies.”

Winning a Prime Minister’s Science Prize has been good for Rob both professionally and personally.

It led to an interview with high flying Nature journal, a lecturing role at Victoria, invitations to deliver public talks and membership of a New Zealand/Australia ocean drilling committee planning future drilling expeditions around the world.

“It’s also created more awareness about my field of research and given me plenty of forums to explain the effect Antarctica has on New Zealand’s climate.”

Rob used $50,000 of the $250,000 prize money for a deposit on his first home in Wellington.

The rest of the money will be used to support his ongoing research and Rob is applying characteristic wisdom to deciding what form that should take.

“The first wave of publications from the IODP expedition are coming out now. I want to wait and see where the gaps are, or what new problems emerge, and then use my prize money to create a research project for a Victoria student in the most critical area.”

One of Rob’s career goals is to develop and lead his own drilling expedition to Antarctica and the Southern Ocean, but he’s realistic about the timeframe.

“It’s a very difficult place to go and it takes years to get the resources and do the pre-planning needed for a drilling programme, which is really the only way to get the records we need to learn more about climate change.”

Meanwhile it’s business as usual, although Rob concedes that winning a Prime Minister’s Science Prize adds a little pressure to his work. “It certainly raises expectations about what I am doing, but that’s good—it keeps me honest.”



Dr Rob McKay standing on the deck of the drilling ship JOIDES Resolution during the Integrated Ocean Drilling Programme expedition to Wilkes Land, East Antarctica. Photo supplied.

7


Parliamentary reporting and the art of literature may seem worlds apart, but what many don’t know is that some of the most famous figures in English literature—including one of England’s most-loved novelists, Charles Dickens—started their careers in the press gallery.

This year marks the bicentenary of Charles Dickens, and Senior Lecturer in English Dr Nikki Hessell has come up with what, for some, will be a new twist on his life.

“Before Dickens became famous as an author, he was a parliamentary reporter,” says Nikki.

“The style he developed there had two major effects—on how he was to write in the future and on what we expect today from our parliamentary reporters.”

Charles Dickens started his career as a shorthand reporter for The Mirror of Parliament in 1832. He went on to work in the gallery until 1836, when he started to write his first novel The Pickwick Papers.

When Dickens was a parliamentary reporter he had two styles of reporting, says Nikki. One was a serious approach, where he reported exactly

what happened; the other was a more maverick style, where he lampooned the politicians and made them into types of characters, or caricatures of themselves.

“Dickens was a brilliant shorthand writer, able to actually capture the words as they were spoken. He knew that it was important for people to understand exactly what was said by the politicians. He could recreate a voice, a personality—exactly as that person would speak. This, of course, was to later influence his writing style, making his characters real and enduring.

“Alongside this, he pioneered the satirical side of politics, the kind of writing that has endured and exists even today, where we have journalists known for their own—and often merciless—individual opinions on what takes place in parliament.”

Dr Hessell’s book, Literary Authors, Parliamentary Reporters, Johnson, Coleridge, Hazlitt, Dickens, published earlier this year, explores this formative period in the lives of these four major literary figures.


Linking human rights and intellectual propertyVictoria Law Professor Graeme Austin wants people to appreciate the links between human rights and intellectual property (IP), which covers everything from patents for new inventions to copyright protected art works and music.

“Until a decade ago, the areas were largely viewed as unrelated, but that’s changing,” says Graeme, who has spent four years researching where and how the two cross over.

“Actually, the bodies of law around human rights and IP speak to many similar issues. The rights of HIV-AIDS patients and the cost of patented medicines offer a famous example, but there are similar tensions between access to food and plant variety rights and the right to education and copyright laws.”

Graeme rejoined Victoria’s Faculty of Law in 2010 after a decade teaching at the University of Arizona.

He recently co-authored a new book, Human Rights and Intellectual Property: Mapping the Global Interface (with Professor Laurence Helfer from Duke University School of Law), which has

been described by reviewers as setting a new agenda for analysis in this area.

Graeme says the book’s positive reception reflects a growing realisation about how deeply IP impacts on our lives—although the debate doesn’t only go one way.

“What’s often forgotten is that human rights laws also recognise creators’ rights. The 1948 United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, for example, requires protection of authors’ ‘moral and material interests’ resulting from their scientific, literary and artistic productions.

“This really asks us to keep in focus both the dignity of creators and the plight of others whose lives can be drastically affected by over-reaching IP owners.”

Graeme is currently exploring connections between copyright and freedom of expression through a project examining IP laws in the context of the ‘real lives’ of working authors. He hopes it will improve understanding of how the arguments play out in practical settings.


A new twist on Charles Dickens —literary reporter

‘The Coffee-house Politicians’, 1772. Interior view of a London coffee-house, showing how news became a crucial part of people’s social and political lives in the 18th century. Image: London Metropolitan Archives




A new twist on Charles Dickens —literary reporter

Victoria University mourns the loss of Professor Sir Paul Callaghan, one of the nation’s most distinguished scientists.

Sir Paul was a world-leading physicist in his field at Victoria University and at the MacDiarmid Institute for Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology, a Centre of Research Excellence on Victoria’s campus of which he was the founding director. He died following a long battle with cancer.

Vice-Chancellor Professor Pat Walsh says that Sir Paul, who was named New Zealander of the Year in 2011, made an immense contribution to the country.

“He was a leading light in the field of nuclear magnetic resonance, and in addition made a significant contribution to communicating science beyond the scientific community and to debate about New Zealand’s future prosperity.

“As one of my academic colleagues, Sir Paul was a great leader and inspiration,” says Pat.

“He will be dearly missed by friends and colleagues at Victoria, the MacDiarmid Institute and further afield.”

Born in Wanganui in 1947, Sir Paul studied at Victoria University before heading to the University of Oxford where he attained both Doctor of Science and Doctor of Philosophy degrees.

As well as his prolific work and cutting edge research, Sir Paul explained the mysteries of science to a wider audience.

“He demonstrated, to use his own words: ‘not just that science is interesting and a relevant part of our lives but it can actually make a tremendous difference to the potential of this country’,” says Pat.

In September 2011 he gave Victoria’s inaugural Chancellor’s Lecture titled ‘A Prosperous 21st Century New Zealand: Educating for the New ‘Tiger Economy’’ to 1,500 people in the Wellington Town Hall, receiving a standing ovation.

Sir Paul’s 2009 book, Wool to Weta: Transforming New Zealand’s Culture and Economy, put forward his vision of an economy based on science, technology and intellectual property.

He himself was at the forefront of connecting science and business, founding Magritek Ltd, a Wellington-based company that sells scientific instruments worldwide for nuclear magnetic resonance.

His numerous contributions and academic achievements—more than 240 articles in scientific journals over the past 35 years—were acknowledged by his alma mater in December 2010 when Victoria awarded him an Honorary Doctorate of Science.

The Vice-Chancellor says Victoria will continue Sir Paul’s work.

“Paul was the driving force in developing Victoria as a world-leader in this field. His colleagues and students will continue the research that was his passion.”

The Vice-Chancellor says that in recognition of the immense contribution that Sir Paul made to science at Victoria, to New Zealand and the world, and to honour his legacy as a great science communicator, the University will establish a Chair in his memory—the Paul Callaghan Chair in Experimental Physics.

A recording of the funeral service is available at www.r2.co.nz/20120328

Remembering Professor Sir Paul Callaghan (1947—2012)

Professor Sir Paul Callaghan at ZEALANDIA. Photo: The Dominion Post

Major awards and achievements2001— Fellow of the Royal Society

of London, only the 36th New Zealander to be elected

2004— Ampere Prize, first scientist outside of Europe to receive the prestigious award

2005— Rutherford Medal, New Zealand’s highest accolade for science

2006— Appointed a Principal Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit

2007— Sir Peter Blake Medal for Leadership

2009— Honoured with a Knighthood

2010— Günther Laukien Prize for Magnetic Resonance

2010— Led Victoria’s Magnetic Resonance Imaging Team that won the Prime Minister’s Science Prize

2011— New Zealander of the Year

2011— Honorary Fellow of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge

9

In Memoriam

Chatting with French-speakers in (virtual) Paris, visiting the Eiffel Tower or a café filled with impressionist artists and their works, joining in live cabaret, live dance and theatre in the Catacombs—pourquoi pas?

This year, with the assistance of Language Technology Specialist Edith Paillat, a group of second-year French language students are trialling a parallel life in Paris through Second Life, a computer-generated virtual world. Second Life has an average of 30,000 simultaneously connected users throughout the day, its own currency and a 3D environment that can be explored free of charge.

“Second Life can be used as a portal to explore French culture, history and politics which are all facets of the language-learning process. I’ve been to Paris myself a number of times, but most of my students haven’t. This is where Second Life comes in,” says Senior French Lecturer Dr Keren Chiaroni.

The potential for the software is substantial. It is beginning to be used by businesses for holding remote meetings, teaching business models and designing 3D products, and some universities and academic institutions are already exploring its potential as an educational tool.

The students trialling the technology met with Edith in early March to create their avatars and learn how Second Life works.

Later in the trimester, the students will present a topic of their choosing in relation to the history, politics, lifestyle and culture of Paris based on their research and discoveries made ‘in-world’ and through interaction with other international Second Life users.

“I have also asked them to keep a diary and to present their findings at the end of the trimester,” says Keren.

Keren knows there is a lot to learn for both students and staff this year, but says, “I’m game.”


Summer learning online

Introducing Second Life

A new course over the summer trimester was entirely online and interactive, making the most of the latest teaching technology.

The five-week Science course—Contemporary Issues in Science & Society—was taught through online lectures, blogs and an interactive discussion forum for students to engage with lecturers.

Some of Victoria’s best lecturers explored the connection between science and society, climate change, human evolution, New Zealand’s natural history and the psychology of everyday life.

“Teaching online was the best way to reach students spread geographically, whether they had returned home for the summer or simply wanted to study when it suited them,” says Course Coordinator Rhian Salmon.

She says that the course helped students gain a sense of the role of science in society, as well as the scientific process.

“Lots of people think that science already has the answers whereas science is really about asking questions,” says Rhian, whose background is in polar research and using interactive online technologies to help people engage with science.

Lico deRidder, from the University’s audiovisual services team, says it was exciting to use this technology for teaching.

“There was a good combination of pre-recorded lectures as well as time set aside for lecturers to answer questions in chat in real time.

“Being able to watch lectures again or rewind them to go over a particular section also helped students understand the material even better.”

In addition, students used blogs and online journals to write about what they were learning and to develop their ideas.

Lico says the next step would be using videoconferencing for these lectures.

“The University uses videoconferencing software called SCOPIA that you can install on your desktop. This means students and lecturers could interact verbally over video rather than just in writing.”

The Science Faculty is looking to offer the course again this year.

[email protected]

The avatars of Edith Paillat and Dr Keren Chiaroni posing in front of one of the educational spreads on the second floor of the virtual Eiffel Tower.


Learning @ Victoria

In December last year, Victoria’s Faculty of Commerce and Administration achieved European Quality Improvement System (EQUIS) accreditation from the European Foundation for Management Development (EFMD). With this achievement, Victoria joined the Universities of Auckland and Waikato to be amongst only 58 business schools worldwide to hold the coveted ‘Triple Crown’ of accreditation by EFMD, the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) and the Association of MBAs (AMBA).

“These accreditations enable Victoria to position itself internationally as a provider of quality, globally relevant business programmes,” says Professor Bob Buckle, Victoria’s Pro Vice-Chancellor and Dean of Commerce.

To date, EQUIS has granted its seal of approval to 133 schools, AACSB to 643 for just business and 177 for both business and accounting, and AMBA to 189. Victoria has the added distinctions of being the only Triple Crown holder in Australasia, and being one of just three top-ranking Australasian universities—the others being the Universities of Sydney and Melbourne—to have achieved AACSB accreditation in both business and accounting.

“When one considers that there are an estimated 13,000 business schools worldwide, the proportion of schools with one or more of the three accreditations is very small and thus accreditation is a genuinely distinguishing feature that greatly enhances our credibility and visibility,” says Bob.

Bob says that accreditation boosts a university’s international profile and standing, enhancing the prospects of graduates, as well as improving the ability to compete internationally for students and staff. The process of accreditation requires organisations to institute a range of improvements, and then to demonstrate continued progress in order to retain accreditation, ensuring a level of quality is maintained.

“At present it must be acknowledged that there is a greater appreciation overseas of the important role of accreditation than there is in New Zealand. However, given that tertiary business education is becoming ever more globalised and competitive, I expect that this gap in perception will prove to be temporary.”


A screenshot from the virtual fieldtrip experience.

Two villages on a remote island in Fiji have no running water and intermittent power, but they are surrounded by some of the most beautiful beaches in the country. Should they be developed for tourism?

Dr Christian Schott from Tourism Management and Professor Warwick Murray from Development Studies are interested in students’ answers to this question, which they must consider as they explore the island on a ‘virtual fieldtrip’.

Last year, Christian and Warwick received Teaching and Development funding from Victoria to devise a digital immersion learning tool.

“The time and expense of overseas fieldtrips can be a barrier for our students, so we wanted to create an experience that was as close to the real thing as possible,” says Christian.

With the aid of Victoria Gaming Design graduate David McLean, using detailed photos and maps, they produced a rich graphic representation of the island and the two villages. Island local Maciu Raivoka, currently Programme Adviser at Victoria’s Professional & Executive Development programme, was engaged as ‘cultural broker’ and interpreter for the project. He accompanied Christian to Fiji where they filmed interviews with the locals about their perspectives on tourism.

Students find their way around the island as avatars, communicate with other avatars and gather any information they consider important, including pictures and video interviews.

“Our goal was for students to have full control over where they go and what they do, and to allow them to make their own interpretations, applying theories they’ve learnt in class,” says Christian.

The students work in groups to develop their response as to whether the villages should be developed for tourism. They then create a detailed wiki and individually write a reflective report on their experience.

The programme was trialled for the first time last year with a class of 92 Tourism Management students, and Christian is pleased with the feedback.

“It’s still in the pilot phase and there are still tweaks we can make, but I think this resource can be used for many years to come.”


‘Triple Crown’ kudos for Commerce and AdministrationVirtual island visit

11

Learning @ Victoria

11

Fact or fiction?

Hip-hop, jazz, art music and gospel have had a strong influence on Pacific Island musicians, cultures and practices, and these—along with other aspects of Pasifika music—are being explored at Te Kōkī, the New Zealand School of Music (NZSM) this trimester.

Composer and performer Opeloge Ah Sam has been appointed to teach two new papers exploring traditional and modern approaches to understanding and performing Pacific music.

A Master’s graduate from the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music in Australia, where he majored in Composition, Opeloge has worked in a variety of roles in the music industry. He has been a pianist, music director, composer, church organist, teacher, stage-event manager and has mentored individual musicians and organisations.

“It is marvellous to have found someone of Opeloge’s calibre and experience,” says Assistant Vice-Chancellor (Pasifika) Associate Professor Hon Luamanuvao Winnie Laban, who collaborated with NZSM Director Professor Elizabeth Hudson to make the performance courses a reality.

“There is just so much talent in our Pacific Island community and we want our students

and their families to see that university study with the New Zealand School of Music is a valuable way of focusing and developing this talent. This is a first for any university in New Zealand—to have tertiary-level courses devoted to deepening understanding and experience of Pasifika culture through music, and I anticipate this will have wonderful results not just on campus, but in the wider community.”

Opeloge says the courses involve singing and learning about the traditional forms of Samoan and other Pacific Island music, as well as looking at the ethics and issues surrounding its performance today.

“Dancing is part of the course too, as singing and dancing go hand-in-hand in most Pacific Island cultural traditions.

“So far the courses have attracted students from a wide range of backgrounds, not just those involved with other NZSM study.”

Opeloge is currently doing a PhD in Music looking at identity in music through musicology and composition.

NZSM is a joint venture between Victoria University and Massey University.

[email protected]+64-4-463 5233 ext 8608

NZSM Pasifika performance papers a first

Opeloge Ah Sam conducting the Auckland Wind Orchestra. Photo: Timeless Photography—Lisa Craig

The aftermath of the collapse of the World Trade Center, the subject of speculation for many conspiracy theorists. Photo: Robert McMahan Photography

Who really killed JFK? Was the US government really behind the events of 9/11? Are tall, blood-drinking, shape-shifting reptilian humanoids from the Alpha Draconis star system hiding in underground bases in the United States?

A popular cross-disciplinary course, ‘Conspiracy Theory’, examines conspiracy theories from a philosophical and psychological perspective, exploring case studies of both popular and obscure theories along the way.

“It’s a fun course that gets the students very much engaged,” says Course Coordinator Dr Stuart Brock.

“Students learn how to evaluate theories and make informed judgements about how good or bad the theories are.”

The 200-level course questions whether it is irrational to engage in conspiracy theorising.

“It’s actually quite a complex question to answer,” says Stuart.

The course begins with six weeks of looking at the philosophical issues from a number of angles. It then covers psychological aspects, such as paranoia and the language and rhetoric of conspiracy.

The course is taught by Stuart and Dr Marc Wilson, Associate Professor in Psychology,

who are currently working together on an interdisciplinary book targeted at an academic audience examining the philosophical and psychological issues surrounding conspiracy theories.

“There have been no recently published books of this kind entirely devoted to the topic, at least not in philosophy,” says Stuart.

Stuart says that as the research field is small, he and Marc are well acquainted with many of the researchers who are looking at this field, both in New Zealand and internationally.

“Last year we held a videoconference debate with researchers from the UK, America, Australia and Otago, and our students got to actually meet the people whose research they had been reading about—it’s a huge advantage for them.”



Learning @ Victoria

Humane possum trapping

Finding a way to trap possums more humanely won three alumni from Victoria’s School of Design a double gold award in the New Zealand Best Design awards last year.

Craig Bond, Robbie Greig and Stu Barr were all 2004 graduates in the Industrial Design programme at Victoria. They set up their consultancy Goodnature in Wellington seven years ago, quickly becoming design consultants for the Department of Conservation (DOC).

“After a wide range of employment and enterprises we decided we could achieve a greater outcome by banding together to focus on our common interest of conservation,” says Stu.

“Our first project was a rat and stoat resetting trap, which ticked all our boxes for a technical, ethical and interesting business venture.”

After four years of development this first product lead to significant changes in both trap technology and the design team’s methodologies, eventually resulting in the Goodnature Automatic

Possum Trap which hit the hills in July 2011 to begin reducing the devastating effects of possums in the New Zealand landscape.

Developed with the support of DOC, Goodnature’s possum trap uses unique technology of compressed carbon dioxide to automatically reset itself up to 12 times. This means the trapping is less labour-intensive and more cost-effective than single-action traps, which have to be reset manually.

“At the start of the resetting trap development project DOC calculated that including the purchase price and cost of labour, the total cost to run a single-action trap for 20 years amounts to around $2,000, whereas a Goodnature automatic trap would cost just $480,” says Stu.

The Goodnature trap also kills possums instantly, meaning no suffering. Following rigorous ethics trials, the trap has achieved the Class A standard for humaneness as set out in the National Animal Welfare Advisory Committee’s guidelines.

“It’s been a tough project but the most satisfying we’ve ever done,” says Stu.

“It’s nice to know that while we’re sleeping, thousands of devices we designed are out working hard for conservation.”

www.goodnature.co.nz

This year, events for Victoria alumni were held in the Pacific Islands for the first time, with attendees including cabinet ministers, a school principal and a noble of the realm.

Assistant Vice-Chancellor (Pasifika) Associate Professor Hon Luamanuvao Winnie Laban attended events in Samoa, Cook Islands and

Tonga, with Deputy Vice-Chancellor Professor Neil Quigley accompanying her in Samoa.

“It was excellent to reconnect with our alumni and we have now established alumni groups in each country,” says Winnie.

“The trip was also an opportunity to strengthen our relations with the local universities and

build opportunities for research collaboration, as well as recruit new students.”

Alumni events were also held in New York, Berlin and London in March.

More details and photos are on the Alumni Relations website www.victoria.ac.nz/alumni

Strengthening Pasifika alumni connections

Lord Fakafanua and Tatafu Moeaki at the Tongan function. Photo supplied.

Victoria alumnus Sir Geoffrey Henry, Speaker of the House and former Prime Minister of the Cook Islands, with Assistant Vice-Chancellor (Pasifika) Associate Professor Hon Luamanuvao Winnie Laban at the Cook Islands function. Photo supplied.

Rosa Filoi, Galumalemana Netina Schmidt, Luamanuvao Winnie Laban, Alberta Malielegaoi and Jevilene Leleisiuao at the Samoan function. Photo supplied.

Robbie Greig of Goodnature chats with scientist Tim Kelly about the performance of the Goodnature Automatic Possum Trap. Photo: Capture Photography

13

Alumni News

A political moveWinning an Alexander Von Humboldt Research Fellowship to study in Germany has given alumnus Dr Harshan Kumarasingham the chance to rub shoulders with both the President and the Chancellor of Germany.

While in Berlin, the 2008 PhD graduate in Political Science is using his prestigious fellowship to study at Potsdam University, where he is expanding on his doctoral research to include other parliamentary democracies.

“The Research Fellowship is an invaluable exposure to an esteemed network of academics and award-winning research to launch my academic career,” says Harshan.

The Alexander Von Humboldt Foundation has its origins in the late 19th century and has always been a research organisation famed for encouraging top-rate scholars and academic excellence. To date, 47 Fellows have become Nobel Laureates.

Harshan studied History and Politics at Victoria and won prizes in both subjects, including the highest award of the Political Science and International Relations programme, the Sir Desmond Todd Memorial Prize—for his PhD

on how the Westminster system (the democratic parliamentary system of government modelled after the politics of the UK) has operated outside of the UK.

His goals are to leverage greater access to German and European ideas in social sciences and humanities; increase knowledge of European political systems and history; and engage with European-based scholars in the field of political science.

“Germany is a leader in comparative politics with some very eminent political scientists and I cannot wait to learn from them,” Harshan says.

He has already met the President of the Republic Christian Wulff, who holds a reception every year for the international fellows, and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

“I am having the most amazing experience enjoying the great arts, culture and history of Berlin.”

Harshan is one of only three New Zealanders who have won the fellowship in the field of political science.

[email protected]

An alumnus who started a ticketing company at Victoria as a student has signed a deal to expand to Australia.

Dash Tickets Chief Executive Nick Schembri says the business came about simply to solve a problem he and a fellow student were facing.

“We were organising events for students in town, but the existing ticketing options charged high fees and were not flexible enough, so we created what became Dash Tickets,” he says.

“Our work paid off as we won the contract to sell tickets for all of Victoria’s 2009 student orientation gigs and events.”

The company has since diversified, providing ticketing for events such as 20/20 cricket, international tennis, corporate dinners and art and culture performances.

Nick says success stems from being accepted into the Wellington high-growth incubator Creative HQ where strategists helped Dash Tickets grow the idea into a ‘real’ business.

“That experience was vital to building our company foundations and product. Creative HQ

helped us to create a business that someone could invest in,” says Nick.

Just last year, he sold a half-share in the business to the Australian franchisee of Ministry of Sound for hundreds of thousands of dollars.

“Ministry of Sound is a company that complements Dash. They’re involved in music events but also handle sound recording and artist management, and a sister company provides the platform for digital content of all mobile phone operators in Australia. We’re both driven by technology and constantly innovating our products.”

A high percentage of Dash tickets are sold online, which helps make ticket fees lower than those of other companies.

With a Bachelor of Commerce and Administration under his belt and one year to go on his Law degree, Nick says Dash Tickets aims to become the number one ticketing company in New Zealand and take its service to the world.

www.dashtickets.co.nz

International deal just the ticket

Photo supplied by Nick Schembri.

Harshan in the gardens of Potsdam University. Photo supplied.


Alumni NewsAlumni News-> To keep in touch with University friends, meet new people and continue to participate in the stimulating intellectual and cultural life of Victoria, contact the Alumni Relations Office. Email: [email protected] Tel: +64-4-463 5246 www.victoria.ac.nz/alumni

The list of 1960s staff of student newspaper Salient reads like a New Zealand who’s who.

Names leap from the pages such as former Prime Minister Sir Geoffrey Palmer, Hugh Rennie QC, the late historian Michael King, Wellington Deputy Mayor and Victoria’s Chancellor Ian McKinnon, lobbyist Barrie Saunders, Ngai Tahu elder and Treaty negotiator Sir Tipene O’Regan and property investor Sir Robert Jones.

In January this year, a reunion was held for those involved with the Victoria University student magazine during the 1960s. Almost 80 people attended, with some flying in from as far as London and Canada.

“The 1960s was a seriously good fun time for many of us who were there and active in student affairs,” says Barrie Saunders, who organised the event with the help of a Wellington-based committee of former editors.

“The drinks on the Friday night and the dinner at Victoria on Saturday were just fantastic—everyone got on fine regardless of any political or other differences. Some people had not seen each other for more than 40 years and I’m sure they will make use of the renewed linkages.”

Billed as ‘an organ of student opinion’, Salient has been published since 1938. Headlines from the 1960s reveal the decade of cultural revolution when students marched in protest against ‘the establishment’.

Other stories may seem out of place today or tied to a particular point in time—such as the ‘Girl of the Week’ photo of the early 1960s or the film review of Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey when 2001 must have seemed a distant point in the future.

There are also historical quirks, such as the letter to the editor from James K. Baxter, or the

article on university artwork that began: “Colin McCahon is a New Zealand painter of some promise.”

Of course, many stories—about fee increases, the cost of living or where to get food on campus—could just as easily appear in the Salient magazines of today.

Former Salient staff relive 1960s heyday

Inaugural alumni photo competition—‘New Zealand in a nutshell’Photos of beautiful New Zealand landscapes, Kiwiana and iconic places came flooding in for our very first alumni photo competition.

Photos were judged by Simon Woolf from Woolf Photography and alumnus Brady Dyer of Brady Dyer Photography. They selected the top 10 photos to be posted on the Victoria University of Wellington Alumni Facebook page, where alumni voted for their favourites. The top photos will be used for alumni event invitations this year, so keep an eye out for them.

A big thank you to all the entrants.

First place: Alyssa Thomas—Castle Point on the Wairarapa Coastline.

Second place: Alastair Boult—Sir Edmund Hillary statue facing towards Mt Cook, an example of New Zealanders setting their sights high.

Third place: Kate Backler—Pohutukawa flower, capturing the essence of a true Kiwi Christmas.

Salient editors from the 1960s back on campus.

15

Alumni News

When Emma Kruse Va’ai arrived in Wellington to study in the mid-70s as a New Zealand Aid scholarship student, her goal was always to return to Samoa to live and work for the development of her country.

“Samoa gained independence in 1962 so that was very much the intention at the time I was at school and university; education for self-reliance and national development,” says Emma.

“I was strongly influenced by the missionary nuns at St Mary’s College in Samoa who taught and encouraged us as young women to value education and contribute to our country.”

At Victoria, Emma studied for a Bachelor of Arts, majoring in English and Political Science. She also completed an Honours degree in English and got her teaching diploma.

She returned home and taught at Samoa College before joining the National University of Samoa as a lecturer in English. She moved on to complete a PhD in English from the University of New South Wales, Sydney and in 2009 became Deputy Vice-Chancellor of the National University of Samoa.

As well as having a passion for education, Emma sees literature as an important way to foster national identity. Now a well-known Pacific poet and writer, the lack of books and published stories about Samoa and the Pacific Islands spurred her on to write stories relevant to Pacific people.

A chance meeting with author Joy Cowley connected her with NZ School Journals (now Learning Media), leading to her stories being published in English, Samoan and other Pacific languages and sent to schools all over the Pacific. She has also published short stories and poems in other anthologies.

For Emma, the Victoria connection continues. She and her husband Vaemoa, who both studied at Victoria, will be at their son’s graduation this May. Jay is the second of their children to graduate from Victoria.

“I’m looking forward to visiting again—Wellington is still our favourite place in New Zealand,” says Emma.

[email protected]

Contributing to Samoa’s national development

Portrait of Emma Kruse Va’ai. Photo: Jordan Kwan

Last year vicbooks and Victoria commissioned award-winning graphic artist Sarah Maxey of Wellington to create a series of designs that represented Victoria. The result is a set of images that make reference to the trek up the hill to Kelburn Campus and the wind you can sometimes experience along the way. We then decided the designs needed special products to go with them, so chose Wellington designers Kowtow for their unique style. Kowtow products are ethically and sustainably made from seed to garment, and are 100 percent certified fair-trade organic cotton. This truly is a Wellington story.

Purchase your Victoria gear on campus from vicbooks or online at www.vicbooks.co.nz/memorabilia

New Victoria-branded memorabilia —a Wellington story


Alumni News

Hollywood research in WellywoodDr Brady Hammond left his home in Washington DC to do a PhD in Wellington on popular Hollywood blockbusters before and after 9/11.

While this may sound ironic, Brady says he was attracted to Victoria because lecturers in Victoria’s film department were so excited by his research proposal.

“Knowing that I would have such a supportive environment for my research definitely helped me make the choice,” he says.

“I also wanted to see more of the world.”

Victoria’s first PhD graduate in the Film programme, Brady says his topic was prompted by finding himself in a theatre back home where people were continually cheering the brutal acts of violence in the film.

“It made me start to wonder what it was the people were really cheering for.”

He analysed depictions of violence in movies pre- and post-9/11, using an interdisciplinary methodology to see whether the films engaged with certain geopolitical trends.

“I found that after the Cold War, but before 9/11, the United States didn’t have another superpower to label its ‘enemy,’ so films which provided a replacement were often popular, like Independence Day with its Earth-threatening aliens. After 9/11 the spectre of ‘terrorists’ supposedly filled the role the Soviet Union once played, but the post-9/11 films show that audiences wanted an enemy which could be decisively defeated, something the ‘War on Terror’ could not accomplish.”

Brady says it felt great to finish his thesis and celebrate in the December graduation. “I particularly enjoyed the smaller ceremony held by the School of English, Film, Theatre, and Media Studies, which gave me a chance to see and thank everybody who had helped me so much during the years I spent working on my thesis.

“That said, the formal ceremony gave me an unparalleled sense of completion and reward, more so because it was held just before my visa expired and I had to leave the country!”

Brady says he is currently reacclimatising to the US, and is eager to start teaching soon.

At December graduation, Victoria conferred honorary degrees on three outstanding New Zealanders who are all Victoria graduates.

Dr Ross Ferguson (Honorary Doctorate in Science) is an international authority on kiwifruit biology and an ambassador for New Zealand science. Projects under his leadership have been fundamental to New Zealand’s kiwifruit breeding programme and to the New Zealand kiwifruit’s expansion to an international market.

Dr Ferguson has authored or co-authored nearly 100 books and papers on kiwifruit biology.

Professor Jack Richards (Honorary Doctorate in Literature) is a renowned specialist in second and foreign language teaching. He is the author of numerous professional books for English language teachers, and the author of many widely used textbooks for English language students.

Jack held the Chair of English Language and Literature at Victoria from 1936 to 1974. He was instrumental in establishing at Victoria the study of the structure, history and use of English, and the teaching of the English language. He was Vice-Chancellor of the University of New Zealand from 1947 to 1952, Chair of the New Zealand Literary Fund from 1950 to 1974 and was made a CBE in 1971.

Dr Takirirangi Clarence Smith (Honorary Doctorate in Literature) is a tohunga whakairo, a master carver, whose work can be found throughout New Zealand and overseas. The rare title of ‘tohunga’ has been bestowed on him in recognition of his knowledge and artistry.

While studying at Victoria in the 1980s, Takirirangi led the carving of Victoria University’s meeting house, Te Tumu Herenga Waka. After graduating, he went on to supervise and carve nine other meeting houses, as well as numerous waharoa (entrances), pou (carved figures), pataka (raised storehouses) and waka.

Top honours for top alumni

Dr Brady Hammond in his graduation gown. Photo: Paul Wolffram

[email protected]

Photos: Woolf Photography

17

Alumni NewsAlumni News

Alumni supporting studentsThanks to the very generous support of alumni in New Zealand and abroad, 10 second-year students will be supported in their studies.

At the time of print, alumni had given $75,000 to Victoria’s Annual Alumni Appeal. Donations have provided 10 student scholarships for 2012 each worth $5,000, as well as providing funding to the Library and the Victoria Trust Fund.

Leaving a bequest to Victoria?If you have made provision in your will to give a bequest to Victoria University, the Development Office would be very pleased to hear from you. The University is keen to thank donors and acknowledge their support for Victoria.

Please phone 0800 VIC LEGACY (0800 842 534) or visit www.victoria.ac.nz/foundation/donation/bequest.html

Ben Allnatt’s aim of becoming an architect has been backed with a $5,000 scholarship from property and construction company Mainzeal, funded through the Victoria Foundation.

The company supports three undergraduate scholarships in Building Science, Architecture and Art History. The scholarships were set up in 2009 and renewed this year for a further three years.

“I’m really enjoying Architecture, particularly the drawing which I’ve always had an affinity for,” says Ben (pictured left). “Working in the fast-growing digital realm is exciting too.”

Ben finished as one of the top four students in Architecture in both his first and second year. Now in his third year of the programme, he’s looking forward to the more advanced level of study.

“Towards the end of last year we did a project that built on detailed work from previous papers, and we’re doing more and more of that. It gives you the opportunity to back up the conceptual design with how you might turn it into reality.”

The 21-year-old is studying for a Bachelor of Architectural Studies, which replaced the Bachelor of Architecture degree in 2010. The three-year programme leads into a two-year Master of Architecture (Professional) degree for students who wish to become professional architects.

“That’s where I’m aiming,” he says.

“Studying architecture is a passion, so it’s great to be recognised by one of the biggest companies in the industry.”

For Mainzeal, supporting young talent getting into fields in the construction industry is very important, says General Manager Central Region Greg McFetridge.

“People who are passionate about the industry are the ones who move it forward with large strides, so using the opportunity of working with Victoria and offering scholarships makes good sense for the future of the industry.”

Mainzeal Scholarships were also awarded to Aaron Miller, who is studying towards a Bachelor of Architectural Studies, and Lilian Reid, an Art History student.

A story about the life of Jim, a triplefin fish, won PhD student Paul Mensink the 2011 Tell Us a Story competition as he related the life of a typical triplefin by recounting Jim’s teenage years, dating and adult life.

Now, Victoria’s faculties of Science and Engineering are again playing host to the competition that asks postgraduates to creatively tell a seven-minute story on a topic connected to their research. Stories are told to a general audience.

Tell Us a Story is organised by alumna Elizabeth Connor, who won the 2009 Prime Minister’s Science Communication Prize, and Victoria PhD student Elf Eldridge.

“Our vision is to train a generation of scientists, engineers and innovators with the confidence, creativity and communication skills to connect their research with the world,” says Elizabeth.

The Victoria University Foundation is helping to raise donations and sponsorships for the 2012 Tell Us a Story project.

www.tellusastory.co.nz

Building success from the ground up

Paul Mensink competes in the Tell Us a Story competition.

Tell Us a Story


Gifting-> If you are interested in supporting students and staff with a donation of funds, resources or time, we’d like to hear from you. Please contact the Executive Director, Development and the Foundation, Shelagh Murray. Email: [email protected] Tel: +64-4-463 5991.

the Intentions Book By Gigi Fenster

The Intentions Book is Gigi Fenster’s first novel. It is an elegant and controlled debut, balancing awful circumstance with moments of levity.

The protagonist, Morris Goldberg, is a semi-retired metadata analyst whose wife has died recently. He is a man who, like many of us, is comfortable in the predictable day-to-day business of living. But now his daughter is missing. Rachel has not returned from a tramp in the Tararuas and Morris is floundering to find the proper etiquette in an unimaginable situation.

In part, the novel is about waiting and about what is to be done when there is nothing to be done. The interminable waiting is a catalyst for reflection and Morris revisits important moments in his life. Through these reflections and the ways they relate to the present, questions arise about human nature, love and family—that complex, shaping network of relationships, constant in many ways and yet also constantly in flux.

Given access to his interior world, the reader comes to understand Morris, presented as outwardly inexpressive and unable to cry, as a man who is uncertain, wanting to do things properly, able to recognise but never quite managing to seize the moment before it has passed him by.

Fenster’s writing is especially striking in its capturing of sentiment, which sees characters, particularly Morris, laid open on the page, with an honesty and emotional integrity that is startling.

Scenery and Agriculture By David Beach

Scenery and Agriculture is the third collection of sonnets by David Beach, winner of the 2008 Prize in Modern Letters for an Emerging Writer for his first collection, Abandoned Novel.

The beauty of his latest collection is its simplicity. This is truly New Zealand nature poetry. It isn’t florid, it doesn’t preen. There is something solid and unpretentious about the world these poems describe and about the poems themselves. These poems observe what there is to be seen or heard or understood and invite the reader to revisit or reconsider (or learn for the first time) landscapes, events and ideas.

Some poems seem to be firmly tongue-in-cheek, while others contain a disconcerting grain of truth which makes it difficult to assess just what the intention is. They feature a dry, serious humour, resting often on the slightest turn of a word. The speaker is by turns absent and interjectory, and the collection as a whole continues the sparse imagery and prosaic touches that have so distinguished Beach’s previous work. The cadence may be a little strange, but that is part of the charm.

I was most happy browsing through this collection, taking each poem in as an interesting, but individual, snippet, rather than simply reading from cover to cover. Faced with David Beach’s collections, one might wonder what makes a sonnet a sonnet, but I found myself casting that question aside, taken in by peculiar phrasing and captivating, quirky detail.

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Off the PressScenery and Agriculture and The Intentions Book are two works recently published by Victoria University Press (VUP) and are reviewed for Victorious by Briony Pentecost.Details of forthcoming publications by VUP can be found at www.victoria.ac.nz/vup

Briony Pentecost describes herself as an avid reader and writer. She completed a Master of Arts (MA) in Creative Writing at Victoria in 2011.

A picnic in Wellington Botanic Garden accompanied by words of the Bard beguiled more than 2,600 connoisseurs of Wellington culture over Victoria’s recent Summer Shakespeare season.

Summer Shakespeare productions have been a Victoria University tradition since 1983. This year director Melanie Camp chose a 1920s seaside setting for the popular comedy Twelfth Night. Melanie is a student in the Master of Theatre Arts programme, co-taught between Victoria University and Toi Whakaari New Zealand Drama School.

“The show featured a number of graduates and students of the Victoria University Theatre programme and Toi Whakaari, and Victoria University was the principal sponsor,” says Melanie.

“We were very lucky to be performing in the spectacular surroundings of The Dell. Twelfth Night is the perfect blend of romance and comedy and our 1920s setting took on a truly magical quality in the evening light. This year, Wellingtonians proved that they hold the Summer Shakespeare as a very special part of their city, coming out in droves to see us and receiving us so warmly.”

www.summershakespeare.co.nz

New technology developed by an international team from the US, Korea and New Zealand will help medical doctors produce 3D Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) videos of parts of the body undergoing movement.

The technology was pioneered by Taehyun Rhee, who will be taking a Senior Lecturer position in Victoria’s School of Engineering and Computer Science in July. Taehyun was supported by John Lewis, who is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Design.

Taehyun says that the new approach produces a type of MRI-based 3D model that can be moved and viewed as desired by the doctor.

Although the first uses of the software are likely to be in medical research and the orthopaedic area, future uses could also include visualising the movement of active organs such as hearts.

http://scribblethink.org/Work/VisibleHuman

Pro Vice-Chancellor and Dean of Commerce Professor Bob Buckle (pictured above), who chaired the 2009 Tax Working Group, has been appointed Chair of a new Treasury external review panel.

The panel has been established to test the Treasury’s analysis of the Crown’s long-term fiscal challenges.

“It is intended to bring together people with a range of experiences and skills to provide a challenge to Treasury and ensure it considers a range of options,” says Bob.

The panel will meet monthly from August to November 2012 to discuss conclusions at a conference jointly hosted by Victoria University and the Treasury in December.

Four other Victoria staff are among the panel appointees: Professor John Creedy, Professor Norman Gemmell, Professor Neil Quigley and Alison O’Connell.

3D scans capture body movement

Shakespeare in the gardens

A two-day international forum hosted last year by Victoria’s New Zealand Climate Change Research Institute has resulted in Climate Futures Pathways for Society, a compilation of presentations, dialogue and images that capture the essence of the conversations for participants and the public.

Invited speakers included NASA’s Erik Conway, Canadian psychologist Robert Gifford, Australian climate scientist David Karoly, as well as New Zealand’s Martin Manning and Sir Paul Reeves.

“The book is an attractive, wide-ranging and provocative commentary on current climate change issues,” says Professor Peter Barrett from the Institute, one of the organisers.

Printed copies are available from Liz Thomas for $28 (email [email protected]) or download from www.victoria.ac.nz/climate-change

Dialogue on climate change

Victoria provides expertise to Treasury

A clipping plane shows interior details of a 3D movable knee model. Image by Rhee et al.

A scene from Twelfth Night. Photo: Tom Horder


Town and Gown -> Take a look at the University’s online database of varied and exciting events available to members of the University community at www.victoria.ac.nz/events

Looking to the skyThe skies above us have always fascinated people—and with the advent of photography, our ability to capture what is ‘out there’ has greatly aided our ability to speculate about our place in the universe.In the process of putting together an exhibition for the Adam Art Gallery examining the relationship between photography and astronomy, curators Professor Geoffrey Batchen and Christina Barton discovered photographs of the night sky dating as far back as 1874.

“When selecting works for the exhibition we were particularly interested in mixing photographs taken for scientific purposes with the more evocative meditations of artists,” says Christina.

“When seen together, this varied collection of work will offer viewers an insight into our fascination with the heavens from a range of historical and contemporary perspectives.”

The exhibition ‘Dark Sky’ (opening 1 May) has been timed to coincide with the 2012 Transit of Venus on 6 June, a rare astronomical event when Venus passes between the Earth and the sun.

Photographs by Hermann Krone, a German photographer who attended the Transit in 1874 as part of an expedition to the Auckland Islands, feature in the exhibition. Visitors will also get the chance to see the work of contemporary German artist, Wolfgang Tillmans, a keen amateur astronomer, who recorded the 2004 Transit of Venus.

The more scientific works include images taken by unmanned satellites and spacecraft as part of the space exploration programmes of NASA, as well as photos taken by various observatories in the United States.

Images on a more whimsical note include modernist experiments from the 1950s by New Zealand artist Eric Lee Johnson, who used long exposures to capture the movement of stars and satellites in the night sky.

“We also found some delightful Real-Photo Postcards from around 1910 which depict studio portraits of Americans posing with a paper moon against a starry sky,” says Christina.

Two New Zealand artists have been commissioned to create new works.

Simon Ingram has developed and built a radio antenna that will be placed on the roof of the gallery and will then translate radio waves from outer space into a painting via software he has programmed. “It will be like the sky is literally creating its own portrait,” says Christina.

Stella Brennan will produce a sound installation based on research she has undertaken into the audio recordings made by Venera 13, a space probe that landed on Venus in the 1980s as part of the secret Soviet space programme of that era.

The exhibition will be complemented by a public programme, including talks by scientists, artists and writers, including the German and New Zealand poets who have been commissioned by the International Institute of Modern Letters and the Goethe-Institut New Zealand to write about the Transit of Venus.

www.victoria.ac.nz/adamartgallery

Ann Shelton, June 2004, Onaero Beach, Taranaki, Looking North-east before Dawn, 2004/2012, black and white photograph, 920 x 700 mm, Courtesy of the artist, McNamara Gallery, Whanganui and Starkwhite, Auckland.

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Get behind tomorrow’s best.It’s amazing what someone can achieve when they are given the opportunity. Making a gift or leaving a bequest to Victoria will help the next generation fulfil their potential, whether that is through research, a new scholarship, or a donation to be used where it is needed most.

Gifts of any size are highly valued – to find out more contact Diana Meads in confidence at [email protected], by mail to Victoria University Foundation, PO Box 600, Wellington 6140, New Zealand, or by calling 0800 842 4438.

For more information visit www.victoria.ac.nz/foundation.

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